


Mercury Poisoning

by FluffyTheUnicorn



Category: Tattered Weave (Video Game)
Genre: F/M, aka the fic i wrote to murder gwen, tattered lycus au!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-25
Updated: 2018-03-25
Packaged: 2019-04-07 15:48:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,916
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14084271
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FluffyTheUnicorn/pseuds/FluffyTheUnicorn
Summary: Lycus has been working to fight the tatters for ages.  However, smart scientists can be huge idiots.





	Mercury Poisoning

Lycus double-checked his formula. This compound, if his calculations were correct, could fight the tatters. He carefully poured in his ingredients. This had to work - he only had a small amount of mercury, let alone the other elements.

He heated the concoction on a bunsen burner, stirring every few minutes. But suddenly, within a few seconds, Lycus found it very hard to breathe. That was new. Lycus quickly lost his balance. He started to fall, and his head started to spin. He grabbed onto the edge of the table for support, knocking down the burner. He yanked away his hand as the fire quickly attacked it. The beaker rolled onto the floor with a crash, splashing him and a quarter of the lab with a hot, hopefully not toxic substance.

Lycus was struggling to stay conscious. He crawled towards the door of the lab and threw it open. The cold clean air was like dessert to his starving lungs. Lycus sat against the wall for a while, breathing heavily, until a familiar face walked into his lab, holding a plate of sugar cookies. 

“H-hi, G-G-Gwen,” Lycus said, waving to Gwen from his spot on the floor. He always stuttered a little more around her, but he didn’t know why.

Upon seeing his condition, Gwen immediately found clean place to put the cookies down and pulled Lycus up. 

“Lycus, are you okay? What’s all this gunk on you?” Gwen asked, sounding very worried.

Lycus sighed. “I-I’m f-fine, Gwen.” 

Lycus stepped back from the concerned Gwen and shoved one of her delicious cookies into his mouth. She was good at reminding him to eat, even if it was just a plate of cookies. He took off his ruined lab coat, and turned on every fan in the lab. 

“Are you sure you’re okay?”

“Y-yes. I-it - There w-was j-j-just an u-unexpected re-reaction.”

“Okay…”

Part of Lycus wanted to give Gwen a hug; he hated when she worried about him, but he didn’t want to accidentally hurt her with the failed experiment all over his clothes.   
Instead, he let out a sigh muffled by cookies and crossed his arms.

“W-well, I r-really need to g-g-get back to w-work,” Lycus said, wishing his experiments were safe for Gwen. 

“Alright,” Gwen sighed as she left the door. Lycus closed the door behind her. 

Lycus went back to work on his experiments. One, or more, of the chemicals had to be dangerous, but it didn’t matter which or how many. Each chemical either nullified or destroyed samples of the tatters, so they were all important. If this worked, he’d save hundreds of lives. He flipped the burner back on, grabbing more of the mixture. The effects of the gas weren’t as bad with proper ventilation. He coughed, but otherwise he felt fine. 

The mixture was black; Lycus hoped that didn’t mean he burned it. He had to test the concoction to be sure. He looked around the lab, and realized he was out of tatter samples. He slammed his fist on the table. 

“D-dammit!” Lycus yelled to himself. Being alone allowed him to be angry without anyone getting worried. Part of him believed every experiment of his was doomed to fail. The rest of him knew that to be true. Still, he was willing to prove himself wrong.

Lycus grabbed his beaker and poured the liquid into a small jar, careful to not spill a drop. He quickly closed it, and shoved another sugar cookie into his mouth before running out of the lab. 

He dashed out of the science building, off of the Hope campus, and into someone looking at a bird. 

Lycus fell on top of the person, and saw his jar roll around on the ground. He looked down at the person and realized it was Gwen. He felt his face get warm with embarrassment.

“Aw…. the b-bird flew a-a-away,” Gwen said quietly, trying hard not stare at Lycus’ red face. He noticed she was blushing too 

“U-uh,” Lycus knew he should probably get up, but he wasn’t sure how to do that without accidently hurting Gwen.

“S-so, uh, y-you, uh, liked those c-cookies?” 

Lycus looked down at his sweater and realized it was covered in cookie crumbs. He nodded and gently rolled off of Gwen. He pushed himself up and picked up the jar. It was perfectly intact, thank god.

“Y-you sure were in, uh, a h-hurry, huh?” Gwen said, looking at the jar in Lycus’ hands. 

“Y-yeah. I n-need to g-get to the t-t-tatters,” Lycus replied, already getting back to walking.

“I-I’ll help!”

“It’s d-dangerous!”

“Then, uh, you need m-my help!”

“...F-fine.”

Gwen walked along with Lycus. Despite enjoying her company, he quickened his pace, but she stayed by his side. He didn’t understand her. Someone told him once that she had a crush on him, but that was too dumb to be true. No one should love a scientist. Lycus didn’t even love himself. 

Lycus and Gwen finally arrived at the tatters. Iris wasn’t around, she was busy doing something with Nic. Good. No one to stop him. Lycus walked up right to the edge of the tatters. He unscrewed the lid of the jar, and tossed the liquid into the tatters. 

Within seconds, the tatters shifted angrily from the attack, and lunged towards Lycus. He felt a burning pain engulf his body like a tidal wave. His dirty hands and clothes absorbed the tatters, due to the liquid that had been seeping into his skin. He could have sworn he was even breathing in tatters. He screamed loudly. He saw his hands turn purple and fall apart. His sweater started to unravel. Lycus stepped back from the edge of reality as the liquid finished compelling, no, destroying him and the tatters. He coughed up purple gunk and fell to his knees. 

He was numb to his surroundings, all he could think about was his unraveled hands, he barely even noticed the tears stinging his eyes. It took him ages to finally hear Gwen’s screams. 

Gwen ran over to him in an instant. Lycus pushed her away with his shoulder. Not his hands, he couldn’t touch anything with those hands. She was crying too.

“L-Lycus!” She shouted, stunned.

“I- I d-didn’t expect t-this to h-happen,” Lycus replied, still staring at his hands.

Gwen held Lycus’ hand. He tried jump away before she did, but it didn’t work. He realized her hand was fine. She flinched, but didn’t remove her hand.

“It’s, uh, hot,” She said quietly.

“Y-your hand is o-okay?” 

“W-well… there’s t-tattered k-kith… s-so uh, I k-knew it was safe.”

“I-I didn’t know i-it would be the s-s-same for h-humans. I d-didn’t t-think this was even p-possible.”

Gwen wrapped Lycus into a hug, but Lycus pushed her off. He immediately started running off. Gwen didn’t deserve to get hurt. He could hear her calling after him, but he ignored her.

Lycus hid his hands under his sweater, and ran all the way into the lab. He locked himself inside his lab, and sobbed into his tattered hands. He took off his tattered sweater. He found an old NIRV t-shirt hiding in his cupboards. He put it on quickly, as his lab was always freezing and he had left on the ventilation, which made it even colder. He turned off the fans, and looked into a mirror.

Lycus immediately noticed his purple eyes. His jaw dropped in shock, and he saw his purple tongue. For the most part, they seemed intact, but Lycus noticed a slight tatter-like pattern in his eyes, as well as a few loose threads on his tongue. 

“H-holy shit…” he murmured. It was only a slight relief that his voice sounded the same.

Lycus had no idea what caused it. He could understand the hand thing, but there was no reason the tatters could have made it to his eyes. He paced around the lab. Would tattered hands mean tatters spread throughout his body? The liquid controlled the tattering on his hands, though. It wouldn’t make sense for the tattering to be anywhere except his hands.

In his pacing, Lycus tripped over something he had earlier knocked down to the floor. He felt a sharp pain in his arm, and noticed that a small piece of glass from the broken beaker had made its way into his arm. He yanked it out, and saw a purple liquid come out of the cut. His blood was tattered. 

Lycus screamed again. His throat hurt from all the screaming he had done that night, but he couldn’t stop. He felt tears stream from his eyes. He wiped his eyes on his sleeve, and felt relieved that his tears weren’t tattered too. 

Lycus heard loud knocking on the door. His fear of being seen tattered was enough to make him go silent. Gwen’s voice called out to him. He leaned against it.

“G-go! Y-you might g-get hurt too,” He said.

“I don’t care!” Gwen replied. He could tell she was trying not to cry. He probably already hurt her. 

“G-go away!”

“Please!”

Lycus didn’t bother talking anymore. His throat hurt from the crying and the screaming. He didn’t want to hurt Gwen anymore than he already had. He laid down on the floor, and kept crying until he fell asleep.

\---

Lycus awoke in his father’s arms. He heard Gwen’s voice behind him. He wondered if the tatters accident was all a dream. He looked at his hands to be sure. They were definitely tattered. Lycus squirmed around once he was certain what had happened the previous night was not a dream. Nic held him tighter.

“Lycus, what happened?” Nic asked.

“I - N-nothing! I’m fine!” Lycus replied, looking away.

“Fine? You don’t have hands!”

“I h-have h-hands! They’re j-just… d-d-different!” 

“They’re TATTERED, Lycus!”

Despite Nic raising his voice, Lycus knew his dad wasn’t mad. He was just terrified. Nic carried Lycus all the way to their house. He expected a doctor, but then he remembered doctors can’t cure tatters. Nic laid Lycus gently down on the couch. Iris was waiting right next to it; Lycus could tell by the matted fur on her face that she had been crying. Gwen sat down next to Lycus, and pulled his head onto her lap. He smiled. Gwen was adorable, even if she probably told on him. 

“What happened?” Iris cried.

“I d-d-dunno,” Lycus replied.

“You don’t know how you were tattered?”

“I m-mean, i-it was a-an experiment g-gone wrong.”

“What were you doing? Eating the tatters?” 

“N-no! I w-was t-trying to f-fight them!”

“With what?”

“S-some c-compound, I d-don’t know w-why it t-t-t-tatt-tattered me.” 

Iris poked Lycus’ hands with her hoof. His hands still had the same amount of feeling, luckily. 

“Lycus, can you sit up for me?”

Lycus sat up reluctantly. Iris placed two stress balls into his hands. 

“Squeeze these, as hard as you can, okay?”

Lycus squeezed the stress balls tightly. So tightly, in fact, they exploded. Lycus stared in disbelief. He was never strong, let along strong enough to break a stress ball.

“W-well, I t-think t-that means m-my hands a-are okay,” Lycus chuckled.

“Well… I think the tatters made your hands stronger… but they’re working okay. That’s great, Lycus!” Iris hugged Lycus the best a quadruped could. Gwen took the chance to make it a group hug, and of course Nic joined in. Despite the terror of being tattered, Lycus was okay. Everyone’s happiness made him smile, too.

\--- 

The following week, after he had a new sweater and lab coat, Lycus was studying more chemicals that could fight the tatters. He was trying everything he could think of. He had mixed and boiled a million different compounds, and thrown them into samples of tatters. He hadn’t gotten much farther in his research, and the lab stinked, but at least he didn’t need to turn on the ventilation. Lycus heard Piper outside the lab, but he didn’t pay attention to what she was saying. Piper opened the lab, holding a box of cereal.

“Whatcha up to L-L-Ly-” Piper didn’t even finish her sentence, she passed out so fast. 

“PIPER!” Lycus yelled, dropping everything he was doing to run over to his sister. He checked her pulse. She was alive, just unconscious. Lycus quickly picked her up. He had become a lot stronger after being tattered, but no one seemed to care. They were just happy he was alive.

He started running over to the school nurse. People were screaming and yelling when they saw him run bye. Lycus couldn’t have been sure, but he was almost certain they were yelling at him. Blaming him for his sister’s condition. 

He really was a failure, huh?

Lycus ran into the nurse’s office, and placed his sister down on a bed. The nurse immediately ran over.

“What happened?” The nurse asked. 

“I-I d-dunno! I-I w-was d-doing e-experiments a-a-a-and Piper w-walked in and t-then s-she p-p-passed out!” Lycus replied, panicking.

“She needs to go to the hospital! So do you. You both were probably exposed to something deadly. You need to be more careful, Lycus!”

The nurse went to their desk to call an ambulance. While their back was turned, Lycus made a run for it. He’d be blamed for this. He was a monster. A failure and a monster. That’s what the tatters must have turned him into. He ran into his lab, locking the door once more.

Lycus slept in his lab again, this time intentionally. When he woke up, he called his dad, to check on Piper. 

“Lycus! Oh thank god!” Nic said, his voice weary.

“W-what’s w-w-wrong, Dad?” 

“P-Piper’s really sick. She was exposed to a lot of chemicals, a-and I don’t know HOW-”

“It… I-it w-was k-kinda m-m-my f-fault.”

“What?”

“P-Piper w-walked into m-my lab w-while I was d-doing experiments a-a-and she p-passed out.”

“Why didn’t you… why didn’t you go to the hospital with Piper?”

“I d-didn’t w-want to be b-blamed… e-even though i-it is kinda m-my f-f-fault.”

“Lycus, the doctors really could have used this information.”

“I-I’m sorry. I-is P-P-Piper gonna b-be okay?”

“The doctors think so, but they can’t be certain.”

“O-okay.”

Lycus quickly hung up the phone, without saying goodbye. He’d hurt his sister. If he hurt his sister, he could hurt anyone - everyone - else. He could make everyone understand how hard he worked. He chuckled at the idea. It’d be fun, but he didn’t have it in him to act out such animosity. Researching the tatters was enough work for a lifetime. Lycus stood up, and started to walk. He walked far away from the lab. He didn’t take anything with him, he didn’t need it, or so he thought. He walked into Hope’s own forest, although it was nothing compared to the Enchanted Forest. Lycus had an idea of where he was going. An old abandoned farmhouse. No town was complete without an old abandoned farmhouse. 

Lycus dashed inside the farmhouse. The building groaned from the arrival of a new person. It was filled with dust, he smelled it as soon as he walked in. It would do, however.   
Lycus looked around for any form of light. He felt along the walls for a lightswitch. Lycus wasn’t sure how old the building was, but he hoped it had electricity. He found a lightswitch, and flicked it on. An old ceiling fan sputtered to life. Good, working electricity. Hopefully there would be running water, too.

Lycus walked around, looking for any resources. The house was moldy, and so were most of the items inside it. Fuck. He should have grabbed something before he left. Turns out he was an idiot for leaving everything behind, not that being an idiot was new for Lycus. After all, he nearly killed his own sister and he no longer had real hands. 

Lycus luckily found a dry room in the house. It was a large bedroom, with a closet full of dated, bookshelves full of yellowed books, and a creaky old desk. He checked the bed for bugs or anything else alive. All clear. Lycus grabbed the chair next to the desk and pushed it up against the door as a barricade. He didn’t want a bear, or some other dangerous animal, sneaking into his new room. Looking around, Lycus noticed there wasn’t a window in the room. The only light was from a rickety old ceiling fan he had absentmindedly turned on when he entered the room. At least there weren’t any holes. Lycus found a book on safe plants to eat among the books in the bookshelf. He’d have to find food outside eventually, hopefully the book wasn’t too outdated. He wished he had some cereal instead of potentially deadly plants. 

\---

It had been a little more than two weeks since Lycus disappeared. Gwen had been out and around looking everywhere for him. She had even gone to other remnants looking for him, but something in Gwen’s heart was telling her that he was in Hope, somewhere. Some people didn’t even care about his disappearance. 

Gwen took another walk around the small forest in Hope. She was afraid of getting lost, so she had never gone far, and part of her doubted Lycus went in there. Still, she needed to find him, and she was running out of places to look. Gwen shouted Lycus’ name, holding a box of his favorite cereal in one hand and Doctor Stuffy in the other. She walked deeper into the forest. She heard the sound of a twig snap. She wasn’t sure if she did that, or if something else did.

Gwen walked slower, practically tiptoeing. She hugged Doctor Stuffy tight, and looked around for any signs of movement. Out of the corner of her eyes, she could of sworn she saw something flap. There was no wind that day. 

Gwen kept moving, looking for any sign of Lycus. She saw an old building, and walked towards it. When she was about 10 feet from the entrance of the building, she heard something creep up behind her.

“D-don’t move,” A familiar stuttery voice said behind her. Gwen could tell Lycus was trying to be intimidating, but he was way too cute to ever scare her. Gwen immediately turned around and hugged Lycus.

“You’re okay!” Gwen exclaimed. 

“Y-yeah,” Lycus replied.

“C’mon! We need to get you home and -”

“No.”

Lycus grabbed Gwen’s arms and held on tight. He was a lot stronger than Gwen ever thought he was. She assumed it had something to do with the tatters, she couldn’t realistically imagine Lycus working out. 

“W-what are you talking about, Lycus? Everyone will be so happy to see you.”

“I-I’m not l-leaving. Y-you c-can’t either.”

“What? What are you talking about? We need to tell your dad that you’re okay, a-and I have kith to take care of.”

“B-but I c-can’t go home.”

“Why on earth not?”

“D-don’t you k-know what h-happened to Piper?” 

“Uh, I do, but, Piper is a lot better! She’s gonna make a full recovery!”

“I s-still h-hurt her.” 

“Piper doesn’t even blame you!”

“I-it d-d-doesn’t matter. I h-hurt my s-sister. I’m n-not going h-home. A-and if y-you’re going t-to tell m-my family where I-I am, n-neither are y-you.”

“Lycus, d-don’t be ridiculous.”

Lycus scoffed and dragged Gwen to the old building. She attempted to pull away, but he was far too strong. Gwen struggled against Lycus’ grip nonetheless.

“L-let me f-find a c-clean room f-for you,” Lycus said, almost sounding intimidating. 

“Lycus…” Gwen pleaded.

“Q-quiet.”

Lycus continued to drag Gwen along. He checked several rooms, until he sighed and shook his head. He dragged Gwen to a room that was obviously his, as it wasn’t covered in a layer of dust. He locked the door with key he produced from his lab coat pocket. He shoved the key back into his pocket. Gwen made a mental note of which pocket held the key.

“S-so, uh, s-sorry about h-having to d-do this,” Lycus said.

“You’re seriously locking me in here?” Gwen replied, waving around her now free arms.

“Y-you c-can’t go home a-a-and tell a-anyone. S-so I did w-what I h-had to.”

“Lycus, you know you don’t want to do this.”

“W-what does i-it matter? E-everyone sees m-me as an e-evil s-scientist, a-anyways.” 

“You don’t know that for sure.”

“Y-you don’t g-get it! A-all I e-ever do is h-hurt people!”

“That’s not true! You haven’t hurt me.”

“B-b-b-”

“Lycus, I-I, I like you! Like, a lot! And uh, just because you’re trying to lock me in a dusty old room because you uh, don’t want people to know you’re alive, well, that doesn’t change that!” 

Lycus’ face turned purple. Gwen assumed that was his new form of blushing. It was kinda cute. He unlocked the door and swung it open.

“L-leave,” He demanded, staring at his feet.

“W-what?” Gwen replied, shocked.

“I-it’s safer for y-you to l-leave.”

Gwen tried to hug Lycus, but he pushed her out the door. He locked the door again. He really liked locking doors, and locking people out. Gwen slowly walked out of the building and back home, silently hoping Lycus would follow her. He didn’t.

\---

Lycus knew he was blushing heavily, even after Gwen left. He wanted to tell her he felt the same way. He wanted to hold her hand and go watch a dumb romantic comedy with her. But Lycus knew it was a bad idea. He’d hurt her. He’d hurt her like he hurt himself, like he hurt Piper, like he hurt everyone in Hope. 

BANG.

Something shook the core of the farmhouse. Lycus jumped back, away from his bedroom door. THUD. Something crashed inside of the farmhouse. Lycus looked around for a weapon. THUD. He heard more crashes and footsteps. Lycus grabbed a rusty letter opener on the desk. He pointed the weapon towards the door.

“Lycus!” Voices called Lycus’ name. He backed up against the wall of the room. He didn’t dare breathe.

THUD. Something was banging against the locked door. THUD. Lycus could see the hinges loosen. THUD. He could see people through cracks in the door. BANG. The door fell down. Lycus saw a crowd of students. At the front, he saw his Dad. Lycus’ tattered hands shook, his grip on the letter opener loose. 

“H-hi,” Lycus murmured, staring at the crowd of angry students.

Nic ran forward and hugged Lycus. He held his son tight, apparently not realizing that the weapon in Lycus’ hands was sharp. Lycus carefully let go of the letter opener, smiling as it dropped to the floor, not leaving a scratch on his dad. He didn’t want to hurt anyone else. He cried into Nic’s arms, happy that his dad still loved him, that his dad wanted to find him. 

“It’s okay, Lycus. It’s okay,” Nic said, choking back his own tears.

Lycus felt another person join the hug. Gwen. He turned his head, and gave Gwen a small kiss on the cheek impulsively. She turned bright red. Lycus could feel himself blushing too. 

“S-so, uh, d-do you w-want to g-g-go on, um, a d-date some t-t-time?” Lycus asked.

“I-I’d love that,” Gwen replied, giggling.

Lycus felt like he and Gwen were the only people in the room. His heart swirled, his face red, er, purple, all because of the cute girl hugging him. He didn’t understand why Gwen still liked him, after the attempted capture, after everything, but he was still happy. He was very happy, in fact. He couldn’t wait for that date.


End file.
